FORGOTTEN DARTERS: Peter Evison and his greatest triumph at the World Matchplay

In this column we regularly reminisce about a Forgotten Darters from the past. Today it is the turn of Peter Evison. He achieved the greatest triumph of his career in 1996 by winning the World Matchplay.

The general public first met Evison in 1988, when he immediately reached the quarter-finals on his debut at the BDO World Championship, where he eventually lost to the eventual world champion Bob Anderson.

Evison achieved his first major triumph a year later, winning the Winmau World Masters. In the final, which was not televised that year, he defeated Eric Bristow 3-2.

Evison would be present at every BDO World Championship from his debut in 1988 to 1992, but was never able to improve that quarter-final place from his debut.

In 1993 he was unable to qualify. Later that year, he decided, along with fifteen other players, to form the PDC . 

In 1994 he immediately reached the semifinals at the PDC World Championship, where he eventually went down 5-3 against eventual world champion Dennis Priestley.

The Fen Tiger, as his nickname was, entered World Matchplay in 1996 as an unseeded player. In the second round, however, he caused an incredible surprise by sending the unbeatable Phil Taylor home 8-1.

After victories over Sean Downs and Jamie Harvey, he had to face Dennis Priestley again in the final. What he had failed to achieve at the World Championship years earlier, he now succeeded. Evison beat Priestley 16-14 after a real nail-biter and thus captured his first and, as it turned out, only major trophy in the PDC.

Evison was also a player to be reckoned with in the following years, but reaching the finals was no longer possible, it ended up with three semifinal places at the World Championship and also a semifinal at the World Grand Prix in 2002.

After 2005, he dropped down on the world rankings quite quickly and was eventually unable to qualify for major tournaments. In 2008 he returned to the BDO. His best result there was reaching the quarter-finals at the Swiss Open in 2009.

Afterwards, he returned to the PDC and tried to win a Tour Card through Q-School. That mission failed and after several attempts on the Challenge Tour, he finally gave up in 2018 at the age of 54.